Using v4 similarly to v3 from Delphi 2007

[tomazy.m]

We're planning to upgrade from PDF-XChange v3 to v4. It looks that the way an application communicates with the driver has changed with v4. Previously we were using windows messages - now it seems to be only ActiveX interface. Can you let me know if this scenario is possible at all:
1) We show the standard Print Dialog
2) User chooses PDF-XChange v4.0 printer
3) Our application sets options (destination file name, registration code, developer code, etc.)
4) Our application prints to the printer.

Currently I cannot achieve that. It looks that when I call CPXCControlEx.Printer[] a new instance of virtual printer is being created which is not connected at all with the already installed PDF-XChange v4.0 and no options I set are visible to that printer.

Am I missing something or v4.0 is not backwards compatible any more?

regards,
Tomasz

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi Tomasz,

Version does use a different model - using the Ax it creates a different instance of the driver for each job sent to it and this ensures that each job is sent to the printer correctly and without corruption etc of settings.

There is a Delphi example available and I would firstly suggest you take a look at this and come back with any questions based on this - but for sure you must pass all settings using the functions/methods provided or the default settings in the printer UI will be used.

HTH

[tomazy.m]

Thanks John.

I think I understand now how it should work, but it looks like instead of just upgrading to the latest version of your software, we will have to make not-so-trivial changes in our software!

There was exDrvAPI demo with the SDK for version 3 - it was using windows message callback so the driver was asking our application for parameters and it was working pretty good. This demo is not included with the current version of the Driver SDK So probably using ActiveX interface is the only way, right?

If so, can we create an instance of a (temporary) virtual printer when our application starts thus it's always visible from the Choose Printer Dialog? The documentation says that the printer should be released after creating PDF, but is that really necessary? Can we reuse the same instance for subsequent printing (creating different PDFs)?

Best regards,
Tomasz

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi Tomasz,

Yes indeed - you can re-use

[tomazy.m]

Hi,

sorry but it's still unclear how to use this software. We run your installer PDFX4SA_sm.exe with PName switch:

Code: Select all

PDFX4SA_sm.exe /PName="My Printer"

and this creates "My Printer" printer visible when you open Printers folder. Now we would like to allow users to use this printer from our application (through standard Print Dialog). How should we connect to this printer from our application? When we use IPXCControlEx.Printer property like:

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printer := factory.Printer['', 'My Printer', <reg key>, <dev code>];

then a new printer is created named "My Printer (1)"!!! We don't want this new printer! We just want one printer. How can we use the printer installed with the installer?

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi,

The point being that if you install using the PName switch - then that is the only printer that will be installed - I suspect you already had one by default installed ...

Please uninstall all and run again using the PName switch and you should end up with just one printer - not 2.

If there is a PDF-XChange printer already installed - then you would need to use a Windows API to rename the printer.

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

"The Problem" is because

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printer := factory.Printer['', 'My Printer', <reg key>, <dev code>];

always create a new printer (if a printer with such name exists, a new name will be generated), not using the existing one.

If you want to allow your users to use 'My Printer' for printing, you should not use this name in PName switch on installation, or don't install a printer, only driver (use /D command line option for installer).

HTH

[tomazy.m]

That sounds like a correct solution, however when I run the installer with /D switch:

Code: Select all

PDFX4SA_sm.exe /D

I still get PDF-XChange 4.0 installed as a printer (I see it in Printers folder).

I don't see any information about the /D switch in the help file. Is this undocumented feature?
Maybe I should use a different installer to install just driver not the printer?

What I want to achieve is not to have any PDF-XChange 4.0 printer visible on the system, and to have "My Printer" on the list of printers when the Print Dialog is shown from my application. Is that possible?

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello tomazy.m,

Ivan will reply to you in this topic later today.

Best,
Stefan

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi,

On further investigation I must apologize - the /D switch is not present - and you are right without this you will get the default printer installed - in our next release we will include the /D switch which will allow the driver to be installed - but no permanent printer - only that you instantiate when initializing in your code.

Thanks for your patience.

[tomazy.m]

Thanks, when can we expect the next release?

[dyeneralski2]

John,

We really need this resolving in the next few days as we're getting close to releasing our software (and printing the new manual) which we planned to use PDF XChange 4 instead of v3.

Thanks

Dave

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi Dave/Tomazy,

I have made the request in our internal ticket system (#583) and am awaiting a reply - to be honest the next release is not due for 2 weeks or so - but I have asked if we can rush something through and will let you know as soon as I have a reply...

[dyeneralski2]

At the moment your installer install a PDF XChange 4 printer which we can't use (?) and we create our own "KeyPoint PDF Printer" for our customers to use. Very messy. To me this seems like a fundamental flaw... Unless I'm missing something we can't use your software without this change, correct?

[John - Tracker Supp]

Of course you can use it - thats a ridiculous statement - many thousands of applications exist using our driver being used by Millions of users happily throughout the world !

The only limitation that exists which apparently is inconvenient for you is that a printer exists in the printers list when the driver is not in use by your application - I can appreciate that you may not prefer for this to be the case and have undertaken to assist - but its by no means a fundamental flaw and you are the first developer in 10 years to ever suggest that because of this you find it unusable.

I take exception to your message and its inference as you can plainly see. I find it provocative and unhelpful and not in keeping with the spirit of support we offer.

If you are in anyway dissatisfied with the results you have experienced in so far as from our product or the level of support offered - please send a letter to support@pdf-xchange.com on your company stationery to the effect that you have not used the product in anyway other than in-house and will remove all products of ours from your applications, servers, development machines and will not attempt to use and we will refund in full and and disable the serial numbers.

[dyeneralski2]

We've been distributing PDF XChange 3 with our KeyPoint software for a few years now and our customers have been happily using it. When they print from our software they choose PDF XChange 3 and it works, nice and simple.

Now we've upgraded to v4 our customers will see 2 new printers. One could be "KeyPoint PDF Printer" which they will print to and will work. The other will be installed by your installer and will only be in demo mode. This could be called "PDF XChange 4" or something else.

if one of our customers upgrades to our new version of KeyPoint that uses PDF XChange 4 then they are going to see 3 printers:
- PDF XChange 3
- PDF XChange 4 (could be renamed but to what? "Don't use this printer")
- KeyPoint PDF Printer

Our documentation will tell them to use "KeyPoint PDF Printer" but how many users read the documentation.

Some of our customers will print to "PDF XChange 4", get the demo watermark, then phone our support staff wanting to know why. Sure we can easily tell them which printer to use but we shouldn't have to.

If we call the PDF XChange 4 printer something else (no idea what) then our support staff will get calls asking why we install printer driver xxx but KeyPoint can't use it, nor can anything else... Again we shouldn't be put in this situation.

This is why I think this is a big problem.

As I've said we've happily been using v3 for years and would like to use the latest version but the above solution isn't workable. It would create us extra support work and confuse our customers.

We are very close to releasing our new version of KeyPoint and signing off the documentation. We can't wait more than a few days for a fix. Sadly it looks like we'll have to revert back to using v3 and asking for a refund on the v4 upgrade.

BTW Whilst KeyPoint is running (and its created the KeyPoint PDF Printer) it's possible to use KeyPoint PDF Printer from any other Windows program and get pdf's without the demo watermark. However it only appears in other programs after it's been used by KeyPoint. Are you aware of this?

[John - Tracker Supp]

Please supply the requested letter on your company stationery and send to support@tracker -software.com - once we receive we will disable your serial number and refund.

Without wanting to start a 'war' over this - you could well have had your solution within a few days using V4 - I stated I would discuss with our dev team and come back to you - but your post in reply was not designed to motivate anyone to make any specail effort to help in resolving the issue - which whilst obviously critical to you has never been a problem in the past and was never possible in Version 3, you could not even fully rename the printer in Version 3 !!!

Seems somewhat ingenuine that what is not even possible under version 3 is suddenly such a major fuss in Version 4.

Anyway - enough said - I await your email and will process once received.

[dyeneralski2]

I can't believe you treat your customers like this even if my post was provocative and not very constructive. I was frustrated as we had spent time+money on an upgrade which it seemed didn't work correctly, and we couldn't wait 2 weeks for a fix.

We've never wanted to rename the printer in either version 3 or version 4. We just wanted 1 printer, say PDF XChange 4 and that we could print to it. That's all. The same way it used to work in version 3.

If anyone from my support team spoke to our customers like you have spoken to me, however much they were provoked, then they would be in trouble. It's just unprofessional.

[John - Tracker Supp]

Had you chosen to deal with your frustration privately I would have been happy to do the same and dealt with it as such - and you were not faced with as 2 week delay necesarily - as previously stated I was already in discussion with the development team to bring this forward - but instead of accepting this and awaiting the outcome you chose to ramp up the pressure publicly in this forum.

And I fully agree with you - if anyone from 'My' support team responded in the way that I did - no matter the provocation, I would have reprimanded them.

However as the owner of the company this allows me some latitude in this area - your post to us was unreasonable and failed to acknowledge that we were doing all we could to meet your needs above and beyond the norm.

If treated unreasonably - people do tend to respond in the same manner.

As previously said - I have no desire to have a 'war' of words with you - if you send in your refund request with the appropriate letter - we will deal with it promptly.

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Just a heads up that the /DRVwoPRN option will be available in the next build. (V2.5)